Friday, April 25, 2025
Blog Page 433

Do It For the Gram: Dalgona Heartbreak

Bella Cooper-Brown
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Do It For the Gram: Dalgona Heartbreak

I’ve grammed my food exactly once in my nineteen years. In my defence, it was Thanksgiving, the food is really only in the lower half of the pic, and something about a platter of carrots adds a quirky twist to an otherwise shameless selfie. And yet, I have spent God knows how long looking at food on Instagram. I don’t even think about how it tastes, I just reckon it looks so pretty. Is there any reason to blend your fruit and yogurt into a rainbow swirl smoothie bowl instead of just eating it? No, but gosh it looks nice. I know it’s all too easy to make fun of those of us who’ve dabbled in quarantine baking, but I salute you guys. If you find you can keep the lockdown blues at bay by channeling your productivity into banana bread, I’m impressed, and my Netflix marathons have nothing on you.

Inspired, I decided to tackle an Instagram food trend myself. I had to pick something within my capabilities – I’ve got scars that could tell stories, and those stories are pretty much all that I should not be trusted in the kitchen unsupervised. Whipped coffee looks not only aesthetically pleasing, but achievable, and unlikely to result in injury should it go wrong. 

I’ve searched Google, TikTok and Instagram. All this extensive research has led to this master recipe: two tablespoons of granulated sugar, two tablespoons of boiling water, and two tablespoons of instant coffee. Whisk it until it’s all fluffy, and spoon over iced milk.

But I’m a woman of ambition, and so I wanted to take this a step further. Or perhaps a five-year-old of ambition, because I felt the necessary extension of this challenge was to instead make whipped chocolate milk, whipped strawberry milk, and whipped banana milk. It’s rare that you find yourself buying banana Nesquik for the sake of student journalism, but here you have it.

After five minutes of using an electric whisk on some Nesquik Extra-Choc to absolutely zero results, I learned that although instant coffee (which I forgot to buy) and Nesquik are both flavoured instant-drink powders, they are not interchangeable. I’ll be honest, I didn’t see that coming. I took a break, added some milk to my bowl of Nesquik Extra-Choc syrup, added some Crunchy Nut cereal to that, and went back to the drawing board.

The only thing I made today. Delightful, yet headache-inducing: do not try this at home.

I tried again, this time using ground coffee. Worse than before. With the previous attempt, I at least made some Nesquik Extra-Choc. This time I made something that not only tasted bad, but was seriously starting to affect my self-esteem. Further googling has taught me that instant coffee is a ‘foaming agent’. “Don’t worry if you don’t have instant coffee!” chirped one online blogger. “Just use meringue powder.” Okay, Karen.

I’ll be real with you guys – I tried whipping milk (not possible), I tried making this with an espresso (no), and I even tried it with crème fraîche. What kind of house has crème fraîche but not instant coffee, you ask? My house, and I can’t wait for lockdown to be over.

All I can offer you is a review of the Nesquiks.

Nesquik Extra-Choc: 11/10. No, 11/7. What did you expect?

Nesquik Strawberry: A grave disappointment. The recipe has been altered to reduce the sugar. If I wanted the taste of a strawberry without the sugar, I would eat a strawberry. Let me chase Type II diabetes in peace.

Nesquik Banana: A bizarre flavour experience. Impossible to describe – I won’t even try.

So, I’ve spent the better part of my day substituting sugary drinks for a meal and I still haven’t mastered the Savage dance from TikTok. Was this really the best use of my time? I say yes. Marie Kondo reckons we should hang on to whatever sparks joy, and for me, it’s hard to find something that sparks more joy than Nesquik. Bless up, guys, and stay happy.

In Defence of a Goddess: why I love Nigella

Bella Stock
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In Defence of a Goddess: why I love Nigella

In the comedy Miranda, Penny, Miranda’s preposterous mother, laments that her daughter ‘hasn’t been blessed by the goddess of socialising.’ ‘There isn’t a goddess of socialising’, Miranda rebuts only to be swiftly rejoined by her mother: ‘then how do you explain Nigella Lawson?’

For me, this is no joke. Nigella is a goddess, though she herself chafes against the title. I’ve never been particularly invested in the notion of ‘role models’ or ‘idols’, but I make exception for the goddess Nigella, whose shrine I worship at every day. Like her, I adore delicious food (both the cooking and tasting of it); she too was once an Arts student at Oxford; we both fell in love with Oscar Wilde at 16 and, most crucially, we both share a rare species: a father called Nigel. Nigella is often considered ripe for burlesque: her name has become virtually synonymous with ‘voluptuous’, her perceived seductive presenting style is satirised in the label ‘the queen of food porn’, and her misfortunes are scrutinised under the media’s glare. For me, however, Nigella is so much more than all of these trivial caricatures, and so I write my defence of Nigella. 

Every morning as I pad downstairs in my tired, old dressing gown and Birkenstocks, with my dishevelled bed hair (which has earned me the family nickname of ‘Brian’ for its resemblance to the tresses of Brian May), peruse the cupboard and engage in a toss-up between Weetabix and Shredded Wheat before reaching for the latter, I vow to be more like Nigella. I pledge to purchase a black silk wrap; to stop wearing sandals which include my own surname as slippers; to wake with perfectly coiffured hair; to glide rather than shuffle; to have my own well-stocked pantry and finally, to feast on things like ‘Eggs in Purgatory’ and ‘Panettone French Toast’ rather than paper wrapped oblongs which have the flavour profile of cardboard. In short, I take the oath to be Nigellissima.

In a world of Joe Wicks and Deliciously Ella and their legion of ‘clean eaters’, of keto diets, of rabbit-food fanatics and a New York Times Bestseller called I Quit Sugar: Your Complete 8-Week Detox Program and Cookbook, I salute Nigella’s unapologetic loyalty to the indulgent: to pasta, to chocolate, to wine. Her raison d’être is never to rule out any food stuffs but to celebrate proper, nourishing, homemade food in all its delectable variety. Only Nigella would say something as delightfully irreverent as ‘I’m a great believer in fat. My view is, it’s a moisturiser from the inside.’ Nigella once speculated about her success saying, ‘I do have a theory about why women like to see me, and that’s because I’m not thin.’ What Nigella implies is a kind of feederism, that her audiences enjoy watching her cook and eat ‘naughty’ food whilst themselves abstaining. Whilst it’s not something with which I personally identify, I suspect Nigella’s theory contains much truth and it is a complex to be conscious of: fetishizing Nigella in this bizarre schadenfreude-esque fashion is to be avoided.

I always reproach people when they parody Nigella, pouting their lips and swaying their hips in the sexualised manner that commentators attribute to her, because I think they fail to see what Nigella articulates as her ‘pronounced sense of camp.’ Nigella doesn’t do things by halves, but I find her flamboyance and sensuous theatricality so refreshing when compared with the muted tones of many food presenters. What I admire too, is that there is nothing underhand, calculated or contrived about Nigella’s style: she does what she says on the (baking) tin. Nigella herself has said that ‘I was astonished to be told I was suggestive and coquettish and so forth because the reality is, I’m a straightforward person.’ Of course Nigella is sexy, but she’s also an enormously talented presenter, one who’s manner is vivacious, sharply witty and inviting of one’s confidences. So, trying to condense her recipe for success down to her sexuality, to the idea that Nigella hoodwinks us into viewing through her flirtation, is just flawed. She is a storyteller, a wordsmith, and one who elevates the humblest ingredient to the level of splendour through her mouth-watering prose. It’s Nigella’s commentary, the moments when she tells us she is wearing gloves to prepare her beetroots because ‘otherwise I’ll have something of the Lady Macbeth about me’ as she smiles wryly at the camera, or when she holds a couple of jewel-like blackcurrants to her ears and turns archly to the viewer: ‘nice earrings?’ In short, there is no-one I’d rather watch.

Every time I – the girl who’s never even punted – weave my way home after a tequila-too-many at Bridge, I think wistfully of that iconic photo of Nigella during her student days; playing croquet whilst being carried in a sedan chair. I bet Nigella wasn’t spending her Thursdays in a sweaty nightclub, I sigh, or munching on Twiglets to motivate herself through essays at ungodly hours. But then, actually, Nigella has never claimed to be or to have lived a perfect life – it’s the reason why she pooh poohs the goddess title. Her life has been punctuated by great sadness: her mother died of cancer when Nigella was only 25, her younger sister aged 32 and her husband at 41. Then, after a ten-year marriage, images emerged of Nigella’s second husband, Charles Saatchi, with his hands around her throat. Plagued by allegations of habitual drug use, Nigella was forced to admit very occasional use during a tempestuous marriage to ‘a brilliant but brutal man.’ It has not, by any means, been an easy life; but Nigella is stoical and has no desire to be pitied saying, ‘some see me as a tragic heroine, and that’s what makes me acceptable to them. The idea that I might be happy is unforgivable. Well, I’m sorry. It’s better to be happy.’ And it’s not just tragedy: Nigella glories in all kinds of imperfection. When Nigella took her presenting style to the US, it was a welcome change to American viewers who were accustomed to being told everything had to be ‘just so’ by TV cooks like Martha Stewart. Nigella – who dips and licks her finger, who spills and eats in bed, who is messy, fun and spontaneous – felt within the realms of possibility to the average home cook. Nigella is spirited but there’s also something so endearingly forgiving and relaxed about who she is. She never seems to lash out or to be enraged but instead laughs things off with an appealing nonchalance. Missing the irony of the title of bestseller How to be a Domestic Goddess, critics initially lampooned her as being anti-feminist and retrograde. Nigella merely said ‘at first I thought it was ridiculous but then, I thought, you have a column to fill. If I were still a columnist, and this book came out, I’d have done exactly the same.’

The maxim by which I live, is that it is always better to be an embarrassment than a bore. Thankfully, the goddess approves: ‘I would rather embarrass myself and be a bit idiotic sometimes than spend my whole life worrying about what people think.’ So what I ask is this: look past the black silk and bee stung lips, the luscious locks and smoky voice, and you’ll find what it really means to be a goddess, to be Nigellissima. 

Image via Wiki images

Nora Ephron, and Why You Should Never Regret the Potatoes

Emily Capon
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Nora Ephron, and Why You Should Never Regret the Potatoes

“I have made a lot of mistakes falling in love, and regretted most of them,” says Nora Ephron in her thinly-veiled autobiographical novel, Heartburn, “but never the potatoes that went with them.” Heartburn was published in 1983, four years after seven-month pregnant Ephron discovered her husband, journalist Carl Bernstein, was having an affair with a mutual friend.

The novel is perfectly titled. Heartburn – a form of indigestion often experienced after eating – has a recognisable, burning ache, right behind the chest bone. Heartburn as a form of heartbreak, that we see Ephron’s protagonist navigate cloudy-eyed and disorientated, is just as pertinent. Heartburn grips the chest in a rising burn, reaching up to the oesophagus, acidic and sharp. Heartburn, like heartbreak, makes us suffer from a surfeit of what we, as people, enjoy most: food, love, and a mixture of the two. Ephron writes: “I’m very smart about how complicated things get when food and love become hopelessly tangled.”

She was not a food writer, and never claimed to be. Her speciality was, initially, journalism, but as her fame grew, so did her areas of expertise. She is perhaps best known for writing the screenplays for some of the most well-known and well-loved romantic comedies (she is the mind behind such rhetorical masterpieces as “restaurants are to people in the Eighties what theatre was to people in the Sixties” from When Harry Met Sally). But food still occupies Ephron’s work, and accounts of her life, like a dependable best friend, its presence so omnipresent that it becomes unremarkable, and comfortingly so.

Heartburn is only one in a bounty of case studies by which I could demonstrate her latent epicure, but there is something in the raw heartache of the novel that posits food as one of life’s only enduring control variables. Lovers may come and go, but whole blanched almonds, sautéed in browned butter until golden with small burnt bits, lightly salted and served with a hard drink, are forever. Ephron’s fictionalised mother follows her almond recipe with “Men are little boys’” reminding her daughter not to stir the drink, or she’ll bruise the ice cubes. Commendable nonchalance, caring about life’s finer, reliable details.

Rachel, the novel’s protagonist, spends the first 150 pages of the novel debating whether or not to leave her husband, Mark (a rightfully scathing fictionalisation of Carl Bernstein, who was inexplicably infuriated by the publication of Heartburn). Her odyssey through betrayal, rage, confusion and sadness is punctuated by recipes, meals, and memories of her marriage that you can almost smell. Just over half way through the novel, when she realises her marriage is unsalvageable, she describes a week in West Virginia, when the food was good and her relationship intact. She offers an olive branch, the perfect peach pie recipe, and the precision of “1/4 cups flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 cup butter and 2 tablespoons sour cream” is soothing – a guaranteed certainty in uncertain times. Ephron, and her readers, can depend on a predictable chain of cause and effect, if you stick to the recipe. If you put all the aforementioned ingredients into a Cuisinart and blend until they form a ball, you can be sure that soon you’ll have a ‘perfect’ peach pie crust.

She says: “we swam in the river and barbecued ribs and made Bellinis with crushed peaches and cheap champagne”, and it’s not hard to imagine the metallic fizz on your tongue, followed by the soft, floral juice of crushed summer peaches. It’s somewhere we’ve all been; not West Virginia, but a precipice of change, for the better or worse, where the smallest details are amplified and highlighted to the point of fetishism.

I remember the slightly stale sweetness of a Nature Valley bar on the morning of my first interview at LMH in 2017. I remember the espresso martini I made with my boyfriend days before our relationship began to fall apart (it was bittersweet, which figures). Taste is an anchor and a guide, present at the point of heartburn, and in the days, months, years that follow. The experience of food can be interpersonal or private, something shared or enjoyed alone, but its joy lies in choice. Ephron doesn’t regret the potatoes because they’re reliably, dependably, her own.

So in uncertain times, take a pair of scales, meticulously measure “2 cups sugar, 2 sticks butter, […] 2 ½ cup milk, one 13-ounce can evaporated milk, 2 tablespoons nutmeg, 2 tablespoons vanilla, a loaf of wet bread […] and one cup raisins”, and make the best bread pudding of your life.

Student campaign for affordable access to Oxford COVID-19 vaccine

Imogen Duke
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Student campaign for affordable access to Oxford COVID-19 vaccine

Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM), a global network of university students, is campaigning for affordable, global access to a COVID-19 vaccine. UAEM UK talked to Cherwell about their endeavours “to ensure that publicly funded COVID-19 vaccines developed in Oxford are widely and equitably accessible to those who need it most.” 

The campaign has developed a mapping tool to track public funding of COVID-19 research and development in universities. It visualises information synthesised from government databases and publicly funded institutions. The tool is currently tracking the funding of university groups in 13 countries.

UAEM UK told Cherwell that their tool aims to highlight the role of the public sector in research, because the “contribution of the public is virtually never reflected in the pricing, accessibility, and affordability of the final drug.”

“The public deserves a return on public investment by ensuring that COVID-19 vaccines are the global public goods which the UK public want – there was a recent survey by [the Wellcome Trust] which supported the overwhelming public majority behind universal equitable access to a vaccine.”

Emily Swift, an Oxford medical student who is part of the UAEM UK campaign, told Cherwell: “It’s hard for people to access this information from fairly dense websites. The goal is to allowed people who are interested to find where their money is going… Hopefully this is a way to hold institutions a bit more accountable for what people’s money is being used for.” 

UAEM UK have been assessing the licensing agreements for the University of Oxford COVID-19 vaccine. They have concerns about “potential stockpiling by rich countries, namely the USA and the UK, to secure access to the vaccine before others.”

AstraZeneca state they have the capacity to produce one billion doses through 2020 and 2021. UAEM UK note that agreements for “at least 400 million doses” have been made so far, 100 million for the UK and 300 million for the US: “That’s forty percent gone.”

Oxford University have set out guidance to organisations about the licensing of University intellectual property about COVID-19 related products and services. It states that the default approach will be to “offer non-exclusive, royalty-free licences to support free of charge, at-cost, or cost + limited margin supply as appropriate, and only for the duration of the pandemic, as defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO).”

UAEM UK expressed concerns to Cherwell that this means non-exclusive licensing of the vaccine will be limited to the duration of the pandemic. Once the WHO downgrades the classification of the virus spread, prices may increase, which is “likely to disproportionately affect countries and parts of society which are unable to rapidly manufacture or access  vaccines and other treatments once they become available.”

UAEM UK have requested that the full licensing terms of the Oxford University vaccine are made public, to clarify the safeguards in place and to prevent the creation of potential monopoly-generation protections. They also have requested that Astra Zeneca declare their manufacturing costs, to verify their commitment to pricing a vaccine product “at cost” during the pandemic. 

A statement made by AstraZeneca this week states that it is “collaborating with a number of countries and multilateral organisations to make the University of Oxford’s vaccine widely accessible around the world in an equitable manner.” It also states that it is engaging with international organisations and governments “for the fair allocation and distribution of the vaccine around the world.”

UAEM UK told Cherwell: “Given the state of global access to medicines, we feel that more is necessary and we need more information. We also want the companies involved, so far only AstraZeneca, to make good on their promises to make the vaccine affordable and accessible to everyone – we haven’t seen any concrete evidence of this yet. While everyone is saying the right things, these still need to be turned into actions.”

UAEM is campaigning for universities to sign the ‘Open COVID’ pledge. Developed by an international group of scientists and lawyers, this encourages organisations to commit to providing non-exclusive, royalty-free licenses for their products, processes, and information for up to one year after the pandemic. 

UAEM UK also wrote to the Jenner Institute, in collaboration with other organisations including Just Treatment and Global Justice Now, to request that the deal between Oxford and AstraZeneca be made public, and to explain how it safeguards fair access for all. 

They have not yet received a response to the letter. A University spokesperson recommended to Cherwell that questions about the University policy for licensing COVID-19 related intellectual property be directed to AstraZeneca, as they are handling manufacturing. 

UAEM UK note that Oxford University and researchers have “said all the right things so far and made lots of positive steps”, but want this to turn “into concrete action that challenges the dominant model of excessive pharmaceutical profits and exclusivity.”

Image from mapping tool created by UAEM student volunteers.

Layla Moran resumes Lib Dem leadership bid

Timea Iliffe
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Layla Moran resumes Lib Dem leadership bid

Layla Moran MP has reaffirmed her bid to become party leader, following a decision by the Liberal Democrat Federal Board to bring the leadership contest forward. Moran was re-elected in December to represent Oxford West and Abingdon, a marginal seat. 

Moran first announced she would be running in March 2020, after previous leader Jo Swinson lost her seat in the 2019 general election. The election was initially postponed to May 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic but has since been brought forward to August 2020. 

Wera Hobhouse, MP for Bath and current Climate Spokesperson, has also announced her intention to run. Other potential candidates include Ed Davey, MP for Kingston and Surbiton and current acting co-leader of the party. Most recently, Justice Spokesperson and MP for St Albans Daisy Cooper has issued a statement saying she will not be running, following previous speculation.

Speaking to Cherwell, Moran said: “I was glad the federal board decided to bring the leadership contest forward, I think this gives our party a fantastic opportunity to debate how we approach the next election, and I look forward to taking part in it.

“The overwhelming message that I’ve heard on the doorsteps as I travelled across the country meeting local parties, and now doing the same virtually, was that the Liberal Democrats need to move on from the last decade and put forward a positive vision for the future.

“We’re living in unprecedented times as a nation and a planet, and when we come out of this we all have to rebuild. I want to help build a United Kingdom that’s more compassionate and equal. I want to build a country where politicians cooperate to tackle the climate crisis, and the huge democratic deficit.

“I’ve seen throughout Oxford West and Abingdon; the fantastic work Liberal Democrats can do when they win and have the power to change their community. I want to help local parties across the country do the same, and win in their communities.

“I hope as the contest moves forward I can continue to listen to local members and voters across the country to build a vision for the future of our party, and of the country.”

Formal nominations will open in late June. Voting will take place between 30th of July and the 26th August, and the final result will be announced on August 27th.

Image credit to Keith Edkins / Wikimedia Commons

Campaigners contest Local Plans, claiming University will retain affordable housing for own use

Catherine Dema
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Campaigners contest Local Plans, claiming University will retain affordable housing for own use

Oxford and Cherwell Local Plans are being contested by Green Belt campaigners, including 25 councillors, campaigners, and Layla Moran MP. The Oxford Local Plan – recently agreed by independent planning inspectors – is set to build almost 11,000 homes in Oxford by 2036. The Cherwell Development Watch Alliance (CDWA), who is contesting the plan, claims the University of Oxford is at the forefront of the planning and will be a primary beneficiary of the new housing. 

The stated purpose of the Local Plans is to address the Oxford housing crisis, with a particular emphasis on providing affordable housing. The CDWA claims the University and its Colleges intend to retain the majority of affordable housing for their own use.

Oxford City Council argues there is not room in Oxford to meet the city’s housing needs. Many of the proposed new homes have been assigned to other district councils. 4,400 new homes were assigned to the Cherwell District Council – which is the entirety of new housing proposed in a partial review of its Local Plan. 

A letter written by Alan Lodwick of the CDWA – addressed to the Secretary of State for Housing – claims that the Oxford City Council overestimates the city’s need for 28,000 new homes over the next 20 years. Such a development would be approximately as large as the existing city of Oxford. CDWA claims the Office for National Statistics’ projection of a decline in population over the time frame supports their evidence for the City Council’s overestimate. 

CDWA opposes the Local Plans because they argue it will bring the demise of the Green Belt separating Oxford from Kidlington, and Kidlington from Yarnton and Begbroke. The letter points out that the election-winning Conservative manifesto pledged to prevent building on Green Belt land unless there was a justifiable need for it.

The letter argues that the Local Plans are not supported by local residents and that there is unprecedented objection to the Cherwell Council plans. Local residents have resisted Oxford City Council’s expansion into surrounding areas. The letter was undersigned by Layla Moran, County Councillors, all local District Councillors, all local Parish Council Chairs, planning professionals and local organisations opposing the Oxford and Cherwell Local Plans.

In a statement to Cherwell, CDWA said: “Oxford University together with Christ Church, Merton and Exeter Colleges have invested heavily in the Cherwell Local Plan in order to get their land allocated for development… The University and Colleges own plenty of land within the city, much of it under-utilised, but are striving to push development into the countryside around Oxford in the name of meeting Oxford City’s housing need. They are also doing the same on an even bigger scale in the Green Belt in South Oxfordshire District.”

CDWA claims the University already owns underused land that is either protected or promoted for commercial use. They say the University could use this land for purposes essential to have in Oxford City. CDWA recommends the use of satellite locations for the University to protect the green spaces in and around Oxford. 

“CDWA disputes Oxford’s claimed unmet housing need and opposes Cherwell District Council’s plans to build 4,400 homes for Oxford’s unmet need entirely on the Green Belt to the north of Oxford. This will lead to urban sprawl, coalescence of existing distinct settlements, the removal of a strategic gap and destruction of the countryside, precisely the things that the Green Belt is intended to prevent. The University and Colleges and their well paid agents and lawyers have worked hard to make the most of this opportunity to concrete over an important part of the Oxford Green Belt – and to swell their coffers,” the CDWA statement said. 

The CDWA statement alleges the University’s role in the Local Plans evidences a contradiction in its approach to climate change: “On the one hand it has a huge skill base working to address climate change whilst on the other it is decimating the Oxford Green Belt that provides an opportunity to protect the City of Oxford.  This includes the destruction of a 113 year old ‘green lung’ in the form of the North Oxford Golf Course with thousands of trees most of which will be destroyed.”

CDWA argues that, despite the stated purpose of the plans to address unmet housing needs in Oxford, the University will retain the majority of affordable housing. The Local Plans do not state the University’s role, and the CDWA calls on the plan to do so. “[At] least one half – and probably much more – of the new housing will be market housing, which will do nothing to meet the need for affordable housing in the City. Instead it will be highly profitable for the University and Colleges and their commercial partners and, most likely, aimed at the London commuter market. The University and Colleges will effectively be behaving as property development companies to provide this market housing, which has nothing to do with their purpose and charitable aims.”

The letter from the Green Belt campaigners recognises the importance of the University and its world-class research. While they acknowledge a desire to see the University thrive, they claim this could happen without the proposed “destruction” of the Green Belt. 

CDWA welcomes student support for their efforts and recommends students reach out to the Vice Chancellor and principals of Christ Church, Merton, and Exeter to voice their concerns. 

Despite the controversy, the Oxford Local Plan was agreed by inspectors who concluded the plan was legally sound and justified in building into the Green Belt. They agreed that for Oxford to meet its goal of building approximately 678 affordable homes per year, approximately 1,400 total homes would need to be built per year. 

The inspectors, Jonathan Bore and Nick Fagan, concluded: “The situation in Oxford, with its stark inequalities and a very large and growing number of households unable to access market housing, clearly justifies the plan’s approach.”

The University of Oxford and Oxford City Council were contacted for comment on the objections to the Oxford and Cherwell Local Plans. 

Oxford Professor awarded Royal Geographical Society medal

Florine Lips
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Oxford Professor awarded Royal Geographical Society medal

Oxford University Professor Heather Viles has been awarded the Royal Geographical Society’s 2020 Founder’s Medal for her work in the field of biogeomorphology.

The Royal Geographical Society has been recognising excellence in geographical research, fieldwork, and teaching since 1832. This year, 22 people and organisations were awarded medals for their contributions.

Previous recipients include Sir David Attenborough, Professor Diana Liverman, and Professor Andrew Goudie. Medals are approved by the Queen each year. Professor Viles has been recognised for establishing the new field of biogeomorphology, which is centred on the interplay between organisms and geomorphology.

Professor Viles’s main areas of interest include geomorphology and heritage science. In recent years her research has focused on biological contributions to geomorphology, weathering, geomorphology and landscape evolution in extreme environments, and building stone decay and conservation. Last year, she was awarded the Geomorphology Specialty Group’s Melvin G. Marcus lifetime career award. She currently holds the title of President of the British Society for Geomorphology.

On receiving the award, Professor Viles told Cherwell: “I am delighted and amazed to receive this award and thank everyone who has helped, and continues to help me in my geographical journey.”

Baroness Lydia Chalker, President of the Royal Geographical Society, said: “Professor Viles has been instrumental in establishing the field of biogeomorphology and the development of nature-based solutions for heritage conservation. Her quality research has made significant contributions on topics from extreme landscape evolution to building stone conservation, yet her commitment to the advancement of geographical science is also demonstrated by her leadership. Her championing and support of the discipline among students, academic peers, and the wider public are why Heather is a worthy recipient of the Society’s highest recognition.”

The Royal Geographical Society will host a ceremony presenting the medals when social distancing measures have been lifted later on in the year.

Image credit to Shadowssettle / Wikimedia Commons

Oxford graduate launches digital mentoring for students from disadvantaged backgrounds

Sophia Cerullo
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Oxford graduate launches digital mentoring for students from disadvantaged backgrounds

22-year old Oxford graduate Joe Seddon has launched Zero Gravity, a digital mentoring startup connecting state school students from low socioeconomic backgrounds with undergraduate mentors from Oxbridge and Russell Group universities. 

Powered by an online app, the mentoring scheme allows Year 12 students to engage in one-to-one video mentoring sessions for university applications, free of charge. Zero Gravity has signed up over 1,000 verified undergraduate mentors in the first 24 hours of launching and will be rolled out to thousands of current Year 12 students across the UK in the coming weeks.

Seddon, who graduated from Mansfield College with a degree in PPE in 2018, previously founded the award-winning social mobility organisation Access Oxbridge. Zero Gravity has been built off the back of the proven digital methodology of this previous venture, which was recognised with a social impact award from the Prime Minister last year. 

Speaking to Cherwell, Seddon said: “The way that Zero Gravity has been constructed takes learnings from digital technologies and apps which people use everyday and transfers them into the access space, which I think is really powerful. The area has been crying out for an innovative approach that can take the passion and expertise of current undergraduates and channel it in a digital way.”

Zero Gravity uses a targeted social media campaign paired with a data-driven eligibility algorithm to reach and identify talented students from underrepresented areas. Once the algorithm matches the eligible student with their ideal undergraduate mentor, the student receives guidance to prepare for university applications. 

The mentoring continues after the student achieves their offer, to help prepare them for the challenges of university life. Originally from a small town in West Yorkshire, Seddon told Cherwell: “I remember when I turned up at Oxford– I’d never written a proper essay before or experienced a tutorial environment. I felt completely out of my depth. It’s important that students start feeling prepared and also at home.”

The mentoring relationship facilitated by the app aims not only to provide academic support, but also to reconcile early feelings of imposter syndrome: “We’ve changed perceptions and stereotypes about what it means to be an Oxford student. What’s so great about being mentored by a current undergraduate is that not only do they have fresh insight having just gone through the process themselves, but they’re also far more relatable. People can meet someone just like them before they arrive and realise that Oxford can be a home.”

The launch of Zero Gravity coincides with the widespread educational disruption of COVID-19 – the Sutton Trust reported in April that the virus is threatening to reverse recent progress in increasing access to the UK’s top universities. Seddon hopes that Zero Gravity will aim to combat these effects, as his digital approach is “a way of unlocking talent, and allowing people with ambition to connect with a mentor and completely change their trajectory.”

Training support for undergraduate volunteers is integrated into the platform, designed to be easy and accessible. Current Oxbridge students can sign up to digitally mentor a student for one hour per week here.

Coronavirus trial involving Oxford NHS staff paused following safety concerns

Joe Stonor
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Coronavirus trial involving Oxford NHS staff paused following safety concerns

A clinical trial of anti-malarial drugs involving Oxford healthcare workers has been paused following guidance from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) warning of safety concerns surrounding hydroxychloroquine.

A paper encompassing results from more than 96,000 patients and published in the Lancet medical journal has found that people taking the drug were at a higher risk of death and heart problems. The release of the paper has led the World Health Organisation to remove hydroxychloroquine from its global study into experimental coronavirus treatments “while the safety data is reviewed by the data safety monitoring board,” according to WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. 

The trial, called COPCOV, had initially sought to test whether chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine could prevent healthcare workers exposed to Covid-19 from contracting the virus. More than 40,000 people globally were set to participate in a randomised clinical trial, including NHS staff at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Headington.

A statement released on the trial’s website yesterday said: “We responded promptly to the MHRA, addressing their concerns in detail and await their decision. The safety of our participants is our first priority, as is preventing illness in front-line healthcare workers.”

The study had been given added urgency amidst conflicting reports on the efficacy and safety of hydroxychloroquine. A note accompanying the trial’s original announcement noted that “despite the lack of strong evidence” chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine continue to be widely recommended globally, and so conducting a clinical trial “is of tremendous importance”.

Professor Sir Nicholas White, a Supernumerary Fellow in Tropical Medicine at St John’s College who is one of the principal investigators of the COPCOV study, said at the beginning of the trial: “We really do not know if chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine are beneficial or harmful against Covid-19.” 

“The best way to find out if they are effective in preventing Covid-19 is in a randomised clinical trial” – a trial in which neither participants nor researchers know who has been given which drug.

Hydroxychloroquine has gained international attention as a possible treatment for coronavirus after US President Donald Trump told reporters he was taking it as a preventative measure, despite there being no proven link between the drug and preventing Covid-19 transmission. 

The drug works by regulating the body’s immune system and has been used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and Lupus, as well as malaria, although it is also known to cause dangerous heart arrhythmias.

However, the University of Oxford-based RECOVERY trial remains open and is continuing to trial hydroxychloroquine, amongst other possible treatments, in 10,000 UK patients already admitted to hospital with COVID-19. 

In a statement, the Chief Investigators of the trial said: “We have been working over the weekend to understand the implications of the Mehra [the lead author of the paper released in the Lancet] paper for the safety and welfare of patients randomised to hydroxychloroquine.”

An independent and urgent review of the data that the trial has so far collected “found that the effects of hydroxychloroquine on mortality reported in the analysis by Mehra were not consistent with those observed in the RECOVERY trial.”

The trial will therefore continue uninterrupted, and randomised patients will continue to receive the drug.

Twitter founder invests in Oxford laundry start-up

George Phillips
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Twitter founder invests in Oxford laundry start-up

Oxwash, the high-tech Oxford-based laundry start-up, has secured a £1.4 million funding injection to aid with expansion. 

The investment, announced at the start of May, will allow the company to launch operations nationally and grow their operations and executive teams. Oxwash was previously operating on a £300,000 pre-seed round. 

Among the new backers are Twitter co-founder Biz Stone, Indeed.com founder Paul Forster, TrueSight Ventures, and Founders Factory. The funding round also includes several unnamed angel investors. 

Founded in 2017 by Oxford student Dr Kyle Grant, Oxwash aims to disrupt the way laundry is cleaned and delivered. By reengineering the traditional laundry process they have succeeded in cutting associated emissions, and are working towards reaching zero net carbon emissions for delivery and washing services. 

Grant, a former NASA engineer, has two years of experience researching microorganisms at the space agency. He and his team have developed an ozone-based cleaning process which requires less energy and is safer than traditional laundry methods, which rely on chemicals and high temperatures. 

Pollutant producing delivery services have been replaced by a fleet of electric cargo bikes which deliver to customers locally. 

The £1.4 million seed will allow washing hubs (dubbed “Lagoons” by the company) to be set up in cities across the country. Hubs will be located centrally to allow for bike transportation, and customers will be able to benefit from next day door-to-door service. 

Speaking to Cherwell, Grant said: “With this new investment Oxwash will be able to dedicate resources to expanding our proprietary washing technology, hire new team members both operational and executive, as well as expand into new geographies such as London.

“We’re all incredibly excited to expand our team and bring clinically-clean and sustainable laundry and dry cleaning to everyone.”

Originally catering for students at the University, Oxwash now has more than 4000 paying customers and has secured “several hundred” business contracts. 

Over the last two months, the company has sought to address the challenges posed by COVID-19 and is working closely with the NHS to provide services for local GP surgeries. 

Grant added: “With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve been working hard to support both the primary and secondary healthcare sectors with disinfection and washing of PPE, scrubs and medical uniforms. We’re now working with labs in the Netherlands to verify our disinfection coupled with our proprietary ambient temperature washing. 

“We’re aiming to combine zero-emission laundry with world-class disinfection to ensure people are safe from textile pathogen transmission in the future.” 

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